"...Thank you, Chuck," the golden-haired reporter addressed the television camera. Behind her, fire
trucks and emergency personnel crowded the area along with milling plant workers. Past them in
the fenced off distance was a half-destroyed building. "I'm standing in front of the north end of the
LuthorCorp Fertilizer Plant Number 3. As you can see, the main building has partially collapsed
after an explosion ripped through the plant at approximately 9:35 this evening. Workers say that the
fire alarm went off five minutes before the explosion, and so far it looks as though the only person
unaccounted for is Lex Luthor, current CEO of the plant and son of billionaire Lionel Luthor."

"Mr. Luthor arrived around two o'clock, like he has every day for the past month," a pock-marked
security guard said to the reporter. A white blurb at the bottom of the tv screen indicated the remark
was taped earlier. "I haven't seen him leave, and his car is still in the lot. I assume he is still in the
building."

Martha Kent looked with worry at her husband, Jonathan, seated beside her on the worn sofa as the
news continued on the television across from the couch. "Jonathan, you don't think that Clark...,"
she trailed off as Jonathan nodded.

Jonathan had grudgingly accepted that Clark and Lex were friends, going on two years strong, and
there was little question to where Clark was at the moment. "I don't doubt it. If he's heard, he's
probably already there."

"Dad--...--me," Clark's staticy, broken voice came over the line. "The sig--...--bomb in the lab.
I need you and mom--...--leave the truck in Rhyerson's fie--...--you and mom walk into town and
tell people Lex and I went somewhere togeth--...--elieve Lex was never here, okay?"

"Clark, where are you? Can you repeat that? The connection is bad," Jonathan said loudly into the
receiver.

Jonathan raked his fingers through his hair. "It was a bad connection, but from the gist of it Clark is
with Lex and they're both fine," he said. "Clark said there was a bomb in the lab -- I'm assuming
at LuthorCorp."

"A bomb!" Martha gasped. She looked at the tv, where the camera panned on the destruction. "It's
lucky the fire alarm went off and everyone seems to have gotten out. Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know." Jonathan took the truck keys from the basket on the island counter in the kitchen.
"Grab a jacket, Martha. Clark wanted us to leave the truck in Rhyerson field, then head into town
and spread the rumor that he and Lex went out together. If I understood correctly, we're supposed
to make everyone believe Lex was not in town tonight."

"You don't think Lex is using Clark to cover up something illegal," Martha said with a worried
frown. "I know they're friends, but Clark is still so blindly trusting of everyone."

Jonathan shook his head. "I don't know. Clark said he'd explain later. We'll just have to show
blind trust ourselves, for the time being."

Part One: Complications

The illumination from the cell phone dial was the only source of light in the bombed wreckage of the
lab. Clark Kent sat beside a very stunned Lex Luthor in a small area the teen had cleared of rubble
from the collapsed room.

The explosion had originated in the lab where Clark and Lex sat. The bomb had been attached to
the underside of one of the lab tables, Clark had deduced while moving debris. He had thought he'd
heard a click an instant before it detonated, but he wasn't sure. He had been otherwise occupied at
the time.

Clark silently thanked every deity he had learned about that he'd been making out with Lex when
the bomb had gone off. He'd had Lex pressed into the corner of the lab, allowing for maximum
contact and preventing his escape. Clark had ambushed Lex at the lab since the older man had been
avoiding him, and he was glad he had taken the initiative to literally corner Lex. When the bomb
had detonated, Clark's body and the walls had been the only things that had saved Lex. He was
slightly singed, but otherwise physically all right. Clark, of course, was merely dirty from shifting
the rubble.

Clark handed the cell phone back to Lex after calling Jonathan. The phone immediately trilled and
Lex jumped. Clark's fast reflexes caught the phone before it dropped a centimeter. He pressed it
into Lex's hand again.

"You're out of town," Clark reminded, his voice gentle, as if he were speaking to a skittish colt.
"It'll take you a few hours to get back. Have whomever take charge until you 'arrive.'"

The greenish glow from the cell phone display caused Lex to take on a sickly tinge. His eyes were
anime huge as he continued to stare at Clark. The phone trilled again.

"Answer the phone, Lex," Clark prompted.

Lex slowly dropped his gaze to the phone. He pressed the 'talk' button, raised the phone to his ear,
and croaked, "Hello?"

"...--er Luthor? This is Kimble Walker, the night manager at the--..."

Lex cleared his throat, cast a quick glance at Clark, and spoke into the receiver. "Mr. Kimble, the
signal isn't good. I'm aware of the incident at the plant. I'm out of town at the moment and it'll
take me awhile to return. Contact Lauren Lopez and Gabe Sullivan and follow emergency
procedure."

"Okay, Mr. Lu--...--ried because your car is in the lot."

"I know it is," Lex said. "Follow emergency procedure. I'll find you when I get back to
Smallville."

The bald man terminated the call, took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. "Shit." He hit a speed
dial button and raised the phone to his ear again. "Nathan, I heard about the plant. I'm several
hours away. Spin damage control until I get home."

After receiving an affirmative response from his personal assistant, Lex disconnected, shut off the
ringer, and angled the illuminated dial towards Clark. "Do you want to tell me what the hell
happened here?" Lex was angry. The shock of the explosion had turned into a darker emotion for
the time being, and he stared furiously at his companion.

Clark rubbed the back of his neck, dusty dark hair falling over his eyes. "Well... I, uh..."

"Clark, a bomb just exploded in this lab," Lex stated. "We should both be dead. Instead, we're
sitting in a destruction zone and neither of us has a scratch. And don't give me any bull about a lab
table protecting us." He turned the lighted cell phone on the rubble beside them. "The walls are
practically dust, Kent, and they were concrete."

"Don't." Lex tilted the light towards Clark again in order to see his lying face. "We've been dating
more than a year, Clark. A year. I thought we didn't keep secrets from each other."

"Don't go turning this into a morals argument. You have your secrets, too," Clark snapped.

Lex growled in the back of his throat. "God, you are annoying, and I'm not even getting laid to put
up with it."

"Whose fault is that?" Clark gave him a pointed glare.

"I may love you, but I'm not going to jail for you."

"And I may love you, but I'm not going to reveal that I'm not human," a corner of Clark's mouth
curled up in self-deprecation, "until I have no alternative."

"Not... human."

"Nope." Clark abruptly leaned over and pressed a kiss to Lex's bald pate, argument over. He stood
and disappeared into the pitch black darkness of the lab.

"Here, I thought the bomb was the most disquieting part of my day," Lex muttered, running a
slightly shaking hand over his smooth head. He had come to his private lab at the LuthorCorp Plant,
like he had every day for the past month, and locked himself inside. With Clark's eighteenth
birthday looming on the horizon -- now, the day after tomorrow -- Lex had been taking no
chances. He absolutely refused to give in to temptation and screw Clark Kent blind before he
became of legal age.

Clark had been doing his damnedest to make Lex forget about his self-imposed restraint. It had been
easy at the beginning of their relationship; Clark was a virgin, shy and tentative about dating another
male. As time progressed and hormones kicked in, however, Lex was lucky to be able to keep
things as innocent as kissing -- though he shouldn't have even allowed that, because Clark's kisses
were anything but innocent.

Lex heard a loud crack and tried vainly to see where Clark had gone. He was still in shock, really,
about his brush with death, but knew from experience that he wouldn't have a panic attack until
long after he was safe and sound at home. "Clark, was that you?"

"Yeah," came Kent's disembodied voice. "There's a stairwell that looks unblocked a few rooms
away. It shouldn't take me too long to clear a path."

Lex pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jesus, Clark, I though you were just weird like the other
Smallville mutants."

"Actually, I caused Smallville to have mutants, including your lack of hair -- which I'm not sorry
about, because you're hot bald."

Lex could feel a blush heating his cheeks, something that only Clark could bring about. He relied
on sarcasm to cover his pleased embarrassment. "So, I'm a mutant, am I?"

"Big time," Clark agreed unabashedly from somewhere in the destroyed lab. "After all, you won't
have sex with me. That proves it."

Lex sighed. "I'm not replying to that."

"You just did."

Rotten boy, Lex thought with a sad shake of his head. The conversation, though, was providing a
welcome distraction. The cell phone display blinked, indicating an incoming call. "Why am I not
answering the phone again?"

"Because no one can know you were here," Clark answered. "You can only pass off a bad signal
once, since you have one of those satellite phones."

The Caller ID showed that it was Lex's father phoning. "And I'm not here because...?"

"I thought you were the one with the genius I.Q.," Clark teased over more concrete being smashed.

"Humor me," Lex said. "I just found out my boyfriend isn't human and had my lab blown up
around me. I'm a bit overwhelmed."

"True." Lex raised his arm and opened his eyes a crack. The cell phone display showed that Lionel
had called twice more. "It'll bring my esteemed father to town, though, and I'm not really in the
mood for a round of 'Lex the Incompetent.'"

"I'll defend you," Clark said seriously.

"I don't need you to defend me." Lex dropped his arm, turned his head, and peered in the direction
of Kent's voice. "I just don't want him here this close to your birthday. I'm nervous enough about
telling your parents about us. With dear old Dad in town, it's a disaster waiting to happen."

"By phone," Lex said. "Or, as I'd prefer, by fax so I don't have to listen to him berate me." Lex
mimicked his father. "'He's a teenager, Lex. A male teenager. And knowing you, you didn't wait
until he was legal to start this relationship.'" Lex sighed loudly. "I never should have kissed you the
first time."

"Excuse me? Who kissed who first?"

"Okay. I never should have allowed you to kiss me."

"Allowed, my foot." Clark appeared at Lex's side and, again without warning, picked him up.
"The only thing you allowed was, me to beat you at chess."

"Hello? Genius I.Q. versus farm hick who'd only been playing a week." Clark tisked. "There you
were, grinning like a fool and thinking you'd outwitted me, so I had no choice but to kiss you
senseless."

"Hey, I was fully in control of my senses," Lex protested.

Clark's teeth flashed in the cell phone dial's light. "Lex, you didn't blink for a minute."

Lex gave him a dirty look. "Clark--"

"Yeah, I know. 'Shut up.'"

Part Two: Appreciation

Clark looked like a professional bodyguard, hovering behind Lex as unobtrusively as someone his
size could. His eyes slowly scanned the crowded tent repeatedly. His posture was one of someone
poised to spring into action at a moments notice. All he needed was an earpiece to make the look
complete. And a code name for Lex. Like 'Baldy.'

Clark snorted, and quickly schooled his face into an innocent mask when Nathan looked at him.

Once they'd escaped the plant and found the Kent truck exactly where Clark had instructed his
parents to leave it, he and Lex had driven to the Luthor Manor to change clothes and for Lex to
receive an update on the situation from Nathan. They played the part of friends returning from an
out-of-town activity, parking the truck in plain sight in the Manor's front drive. When they'd driven
through Smallville Proper, they made certain to drive past the bar to gather a witness or two. The
actions were a necessity in setting up an alibi for Lex.

While Clark had been digging a path to freedom, he and Lex had discussed the possibility that
someone had been trying to kill Lex himself, since the bomb was in his personal lab. Lex had
disagreed, saying that, until the last month, his lab had been the least used room at the plant and the
perfect place to hide a bomb. It wasn't until they learned about the fire alarm having sounded --
and the fact that they hadn't heard it, even though Lex guaranteed there were bells in every room --
that Lex conceded.

And now, Clark was wearing one of the suits he kept at Lex's for dates to fancy Metropolis
restaurants or parties and standing behind his boyfriend, keeping an eye out, while Lex dealt with
the press. In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Clark wondered if his parents were watching
him on television. He fought the urge to smile, wave, and mouth "Hi, Mom and Dad!"

"...And I will keep the employees on full pay and benefits until the structural engineers complete
their assessment," Lex was saying to the flock of reporters. The were gathered in a tent Nathan had
arranged to have set up outside the fence of the LuthorCorp Plant. The smooth-headed Luthor
looked sharp and professional in a full suit and tie: black, naturally, at this hour of the night, with an
amethyst shirt. No one could tell that he'd been buried two hundred feet underground, in a rubble-strewn lab that had been destroyed while he was in it, unless they looked very carefully. Nathan had
expertly covered the discolored bruise on the back of Lex's skull with stage makeup. There was a
cut, too, near the top of his head, stage-bandaged and blended to near invisibility.

Lex fielded a few questions, answering them with the cool confidence of a shark gliding through an
ocean of swimmers. The reporters did their best to unnerve him, or catch him in a lie, but at times
he was his father's son and this was one of those times. Clark knew his place when Lex acted the
role of young billionaire businessman: to fade silently into the background unless beckoned. At
first, it had made him uncomfortable and hurt to be mostly ignored by Lex, especially when he was
supposedly Lex's date at some of the functions they'd attended. Clark soon got over it, because after
an event where Lex was "on" and they were alone, he would hold Clark's hand and bitch about
everyone and everything. And since Clark had been there, he knew who and what Lex was referring
to, enabling him to understand without explanation, to commiserate, to offer his own knowledgeable
opinion, and to laugh uproariously at Lex's dead-accurate impersonations. It made Clark feel
special rather than a 'trophy.' Lex invited Clark so he would have someone to share war-stories
with afterwards, something he said once that he was glad about.

Relaxed and articulate, Lex exuded confidence as well as caring for the plant employees. If his
father was here things would be much different, but the senior Luthor was in flight somewhere over
the Pacific, so Lex was in control the crucial first hours post-disaster. Lex had performed a little
Happy Dance due to that after he'd ended the call to his dad. It had been quite amusing to see,
especially because he'd only been wearing his shirt, tie, and underwear at the time.

Nathan Laskarin, ever the efficient personal assistant, ushered Lex away from the reporters after X
amount of questions, with Clark silently shadowing. Lex signed papers as he walked, issuing orders
and delegating duties. Nathan -- who always reminded Clark of a slightly better-looking Lurch
from The Addams Family -- also juggled three cell phones and fluidly passed each in turn to Lex
with the appropriate requested party on the line.

Clark liked Nathan. He was discrete, loyal to Lex over his father, and subtly took care of the
younger Luthor. He was the only person who knew about Lex and Clark dating, and he treated
Clark like he belonged at the mansion and not as a guest.

Liking someone, however, didn't equate trust. Nathan knew Lex and Clark were together because
of necessity: the two spent most of their time at the mansion. Lex was extremely good at keeping
things he didn't want known to himself, in business or his private life. Clark knew more about Lex
than anyone, but he didn't know everything. Clark didn't mind, though, because it was him that
Lex turned to for comfort and sharing; it was him that Lex wanted for company; it was with him that
Lex laughed until he cried and let his hair down, so to speak.

And it was with Lex that Clark would lose his virginity and discover the pleasures of making love.

Clark could feel himself blushing at the turn of his thoughts, as he followed Lex and Nathan into the
makeshift 'headquarters' set up within the perimeter of the LuthorCorp Plant. It was well past
midnight, and was officially the day before Clark's eighteenth birthday, which meant that he was
going to have sex in one more day.

It was about damned time.

Clark had wanted to tumble Lex onto the nearest bed for months now. He'd even passed "The
Test": he'd walked right into the grocery store, chose and paid for a single box of condoms, with
maximum blushing, under the disapproving eye of Mrs. Satoski, the cashier, who bought vegetables
from his mother. Mrs. Satoski'd clucked her tongue at him. He'd received "The Talk: Part Two"
later that night, and ended up coming out to his father on accident.

Jonathan Kent had been leaning against the weathered wood fence beside Clark as they looked out
over the work they'd just completed. Neat rows of stakes and string marked divisions between the
newly planted test crops.

Jonathan's mouth curved in a faint grin. "We've had this talk before, and I wanted to say I'm glad
to find you're acting responsibly." He clapped a hand on Clark's shoulder. "You're mature enough
to make your own decisions, Clark. Just play safe and respect her decisions, too."

"I am. I do." Clark sighed softly, eyes focused on a distant point. "I just really want him to be my
first, you know?"

There had been an infinite pause before Jonathan finally agreed. "You'll always remember your
first time. It's better if it's with a special... someone."

The slow smile that stretched across Clark's face was full of tenderness. "Yeah."

"C'mon," Jonathan pushed off the fence, "Your Mom's made peach pie for dessert."

Later on that night, Clark had realized what he'd said and had hidden his head beneath his pillow for
a better part of an hour. Thankfully, his father hadn't asked who the 'him' was that Clark wanted as
his first.

He hadn't been too embarrassed to find books on parenting gay children in the house a few days
later.

Clark stood out of the way, behind and to the side of Lex, in the headquarters tent. The tent was
crowded with officials, and Clark knew half of them by name. They glanced questioningly at him
from time to time, but didn't approach or ask why he was present and dressed in a navy suit at two
o'clock in the morning.

A casually dressed man in a hardhat and carrying a clipboard was giving a report to Lex about the
lockdown of the hazardous gases and chemicals in the plant. Clark hadn't thought about the danger
still existing after the explosion. His only concern had been for Lex's well-being.

Lex rubbed the back of his neck as he surveyed a map of the fallout area should the worst happen.
"Because of the hour, we'll have to do a door-to-door and warn the residents," he said. "I'd like the
Sheriff's Department to do that. The officers should all have speech cards and strive to keep the
panic at a minimum."

The Sheriff, Jim Arnold, also dressed in a suit with his star pinned to his lapel, nodded in agreement
as he removed a cell phone from his pocket.

"Mr. Sullivan," Lex turned to where his three plant managers stood, "I want you back here at seven
o'clock to assist the structural engineers. Mr. Lopez, come at your normal time to relieve Mr.
Sullivan. Mr. Kimble, I'd like you to prepare a full, written report as to everything that occurred
from when you came to work up until I arrived. Give a copy to the Sheriff, too, when it's done.
Now, all three of you, go home."

As the plant managers left, Clark wondered if an article would appear on The Torch's daily updated
webpage tomorrow. Chloe Sullivan was relentless when it came to a story, especially when she had
an ace-in-the-hole eye-witness, like her father. The speculation that a bomb was the cause of the
destruction had been bandied around --which neither Lex nor Clark confirmed or commented on--
and it would undoubtedly reach the ears of Smallville High's nosey reporter.

"Mr. Marcus," Lex addressed the LuthorCorp Plant's PR Director, Bradley Marcus, who had been
summoned by Nathan as part of 'damage control.' "Prepare the information for the Sheriff
Department. Then, create a press brief about the plant's closing and the continued temporary wages
and insurance benefits until further notice. Add a warning that no one is to come out to the plant
because of the hazards. After that, be ready to prepare a brief regarding the results of the structural
engineers' investigation."

Lex was extremely good at his job. Clark had known this before, but to see first hand how Lex took
control and made definitive decisions was amazing. Why Lionel Luthor wasn't proud of Lex baffled
Clark. Even Clark's own father would be impressed with Lex right now.

Clark was not looking forward to the arrival of the elder Luthor in Smallville. A visit from his
father always made Lex tense and grouchy for days, and not even Clark's magic footrubs would
relax his boyfriend. Plus, Clark always wanted to stand at Lex's side, to present a unified front
against Lionel, but couldn't because of his age, and that made Clark himself grumpy.

"All right, that's enough for tonight," Lex announced over an hour later. False dawn lit the sky
outside the open flaps of the tent. "I'll be back about 6:45 AM to meet the engineers. Mr. Swanson,
Sheriff, I presume you'll be here, too."